The power and grace of domestic workers

DR THOBEKA Ntini-Makununika's PhD journey didn’t begin with lectures, textbooks or quiet library halls. It began with mops, brooms and the silent dignity of three generations of women who cleaned other people’s homes to survive.

- WENDY JASSON DA COSTA

This week, the Unizulu lecturer graduated from UKZN, with a study that humanised domestic work and redefined its societal value. At the age of 13 she started her first job as a domestic worker, following in the footsteps of her late mom, her aunt and her late grandmother.

"While children my age enjoyed their play times during the week-ends and school holidays, mine were reserved for domestic chores, caring for people's children and running errands for my bosses. At the time I was a child, but because I’ve got a bigger body and a bigger bust, it was easy to fake that (being older)."

For seven years, she worked part-time for white families and at holiday resorts in KZN. She knows what it means to get up at the crack of dawn and catch a bus to go to work. After completing two Master's degrees in social work, one in multiple countries overseas, she decided to be intentional about her studies and ensure that her PhD is challenging, personal and meaningful.

Those early childhood experiences form the basis of her groundbreaking PhD thesis: “Unravelling the Dynamics of Power in the Employer-Domestic Worker Relations in Contemporary South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal: Praxis-Oriented Research”.

“Education, for me, is resistance,” Ntini-Makununika said. “I carry the sacrifices of generations of women in my family into every chapter I write.”